It was January 2014 and Maya Vishwakarma had just quit the cosy comfort of her job in California to pursue her idealitic dream of cleansing her motherland of corruption and nepotism. Riding on a high wave of optimism following the unprecedented success of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi elections, and inspired by the noble vision of its leader Arvind Kejriwal, this young woman landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport airborne on the wings of hope.

As Maya passed through security check to board a connecting flight from New Delhi to Bhopal, she didn’t realize she had presented herself at the VIP counter. Seeing her in the distinctive AAP t-shirt, a security guard remarked jocularly, “Madam, ye khaas aadmi ke liye hain aapka ticket to aam aadmi ka hai!” (Madam. this line is for special persons, your ticket is for common people!) Another police officer said, “Please come this way. We will treat you as a special person today because your party is doing such excellent work.”